Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I've run about 20 lbs. of .035 wire through it welding mostly 1/8-inch stock with small amounts of other thicknesses from 1/16 to 3/16. No difficulties running a smooth bead. I've had no wire feed problems with a wire feed drive that looks acceptably well designed for a welder of this class. Hose and gun quality are good and comparable to the major brand name welders like this.
The multi-position combination on/off and power selector switch is actually a shaft with a cam that closes one of the micro-switches around the shaft when a power level is selected. This seems like a durable design with no contacts to wear out. However, I would prefer a main on/off power switch separate from the power selector switch.
The 20 percent duty cycle rating at moderately high power is a reasonable estimate. I have caused the overheat protection to shut the welder down multiple times when I had welds to make and was impatient to get them done. If you need a welder in situations where time is money, or if you don't like waiting around for the box to cool down, you should look for something more robust.
I'm not sure what the 180 amp rating means. My stick welder running at a nominal 180 amps is cranking out FAR more heat than this welder can even dream about. This welder's maximum is comparable to my stick welder running around its nominal 130 amps. The difference is so extreme that one must assume there is a difference in what the ratings mean between wire feed and stick welders. Either that or somebody is pulling amperage numbers out of the air.
The description says this can weld 5/16-inch ... maybe with a beveled joint and multiple passes. For single pass, I would put it at no more than 3/16. The fact that I can weld 1/8-inch at highest power while dragging the tip (instead of pushing) without burning through suggests that the 180 amp rating is a little optimistic, but that might be the convention for these portable wire feed welders. If you plan on welding a lot of heavier stock, such as 1/4-inch, I would go with a bigger machine.
Now for the negative. while most of the welder seems to be of decent quality, the cooling fan is cheap beyond belief. Think of the fan in the cheapest, lowest quality electric space heater you have ever seen, and that will give you some idea of the fan in this welder. On top of that, the screws that hold the fan motor to the cheap plastic frame in my welder were not tightened at all so that the flimsy plastic blade would often hit the mount. When a piece of blade got flung out, I disassembled the welder to discover the problem.
When tighening the screws on the fan motor, a wire that runs to the control circuit board fell out of the spade lug that connects it to the circuit board. The fit was so loose that I was able to simply reinsert the wire into the lug. It had obviously never been crimped. I soldered the wire to the spade since the tab on the circuit board was so flimsy that, had I tried to pull the spade off the tab to crimp it, I most likely would have pulled the tab off the circuit board.
One would like to replace the cheap fan with something better, but this is complicated by the fact that the motor coil also functions as the primary winding of a step-down transformer that converts the 230V main supply to 24V to power the circuit board (or at least some component on it) -- apparently, a little corner cutting going on here. Replacing the fan will require getting not only a high quality fan, but also a 230V to 24V transformer and doing some rewiring. There are no vents in the case for cooling air to draw through, so it's doubtful that a high quality cooling fan will help much with cooling unless you want to cut some strategically placed vents. No doubt, this contributes to the limited duty cycle.
Despite my negative comments, I'd say this is a decent hobby welder with some good features, but also some remarkable quality control problems in the one I received and a pitifully cheap cooling fan. I got mine from Grizzly when they had it on sale for a very attractive price. At its current significantly higher price, I don't think I can give it any more than a neutral recommendation.
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? Welds steel 24ga. to 3/16" ? Professional grade removable torch ? Professional grade die-cast aluminum drive deck - Best In Class ? Includes smoothing capacitor for smothest bead ? Built in circuit breaker and thermostat
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